Talent Swap
by BrittanyBrighttheMagikatin
Summary: Sunil has a new trick up his sleeve, and it costs his own personality and talent, as well as Russell's and Vinnie's. Now Vinnie's a braniac, Sunil's a klutz, and Russell's a coward! Can the three boys put their heads together and come up with a way to reverse this curse? Short three-shot.
1. Chapter 1

"Yo, Sunil!" a loud voice greeted Sunil the mongoose as he read his spell book, causing him to leap into the air and scream. He turned around and glared at Vinnie the gecko, who spoke, and Russell the hedgehog. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Well, I _was_ working on a new spell before you decided to nearly give me a heart attack!" Sunil retorted, clutching his chest and panting heavily.

"Ooh, new spell? What is it?"

"Well, I-I'm still learning how to pull this off, but it's supposed to be a personality-swapping spell."

"Oh, cool, a personality-swapping spell! What the heck does that mean?"

"It means taking one's personality, as well as characteristics I presume, and passing it on to a different character, and that character passes their personality and characteristics to the first," Russell explained, making side-to-side hand gestures as he did so, and grunted when Vinnie responded with a confused look. "Okay, for example, let's say Sunil casts the spell on the two of us. With my strictness and intelligence, and you're... uh..."

"Stupidity!" Sunil coughed.

"Hey! I'm not stupid! I'm only dumb, and those are two totally different things!" Vinnie snapped.

"Keep telling yourself that," Russell chuckled under his breath, smiling nervously when the gecko shot a glare at him. "Okay, I'll use myself and Sunil. With my strictness and intelligence, and Sunil's cowardliness and cobra instincts, if he were to cast the spell on the two of us, he would be strict and smart and I would be cowardly and cobra-berserk."

"Oh, I get it..." Vinnie nodded in full understanding, then shouted with a large smile: "Sunil, turn Russell into a coward!"

"Vinnie!"

"I'm not _that_ much of a coward, you know," the mongoose grunted, crossing his arms in annoyance. "There may be incidents where I chicken out, but that doesn't mean I'm scared of _everything."_

"Keep telling yourself that," Vinnie snickered; Russell couldn't help but smile in amusement at his friend's comment.

"Whatever, just let me concentrate so I can perform the spell." Turning his back to the gecko and hedgehog, the mongoose began reading the pages in the book again.

"Hey, what's in there, anyway?" Vinnie asked, peeking over Sunil's shoulder to get a better look at the book's contents. He quickly got off and blinked multiple times, much like one trying to adjust to the darkness after looking at a bright light. "Wow... That's some confusion stuff... It makes my brain hurt just _thinking_ about it..."

"Oh, come on, Vinnie, it can't be _that_ complicated," Russell replied before looking at the book. He blinked in surprise and his jaws lower slightly. "Whoa... This _is_ complicated... And you're able to understand this all, Sunil?"

"It's only because I know how this all works," the mongoose replied. "The book is made for only magicians to read and understand."

"Well, can you please just understand that stuff already and cast the spell?" Vinnie asked impatiently, rubbing his eyes.

"Hold on, this is a very difficult spell to learn; it's one of the more advanced ones. But I'm almost done." Sunil took a few more seconds to read the book, then closed it. "Okay, I think I got it."

"All right! Hey, can you use the spell on all of us?"

"Well... the spell should wear off in a matter of minutes, so... sure, I don't see any harm in casting it on all three of us."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Russell interrupted, holding his paws out. "I don't remember volunteering."

"I'm volunteering you," Sunil replied, smiling when the hedgehog rolled his eyes. He picked up his magic wand and began waving it in the air. "You two ready for a whole new you?"

"Yeah!" Vinnie exclaimed.

"So long as it's not for too long, whatever may happen," Russell added with lesser enthusiasm.

"Okay, here goes..." Closing his eyes, Sunil spun the wand to and fro, starting off slowly, and gradually picking up the pace. Soon, tiny purple, blue, and white sparkles began to spark from the end. "Sunilio, Sunilia, to us all, give new persona!"

The wand then let out a blast of purple and blue smoke, shrouded with white sparkles, and when the smoke cleared, the three boys just stood there, blinking.

"Did it work?" Vinnie asked, rubbing his head. "I don't feel different."

"Yeah, neither do I," Sunil replied. "Maybe I didn't perform the spell right..."

"Oh, man, now we have no idea if the spell worked or not! What do we do?" Russell began to panic.

Wait... Panic?

"It-It _did_ work!" Sunil exclaimed with a large smile, then began to dance around.

"Hey, that's _my_ dance!" Vinnie exclaimed.

The mongoose immediately halted and gasped. "I-I must have your... uh... whatever those two words are called."

"Personality and characteristics," the gecko answered with ease. He gasped and let out a tiny squeal. "I have Russell's intelligence! I'm finally smart!"

"Ugh, this isn't good!" Russell whimpered.

"What do you mean it isn't good, this is _awesome!"_ Sunil exclaimed.

"Wow, Sunil, your spell worked better than I thought." Vinnie suddenly blinked. "Hold on. You just said the spell would switch our personalities and characteristics, but you said nothing about talents. However, you just dance my exact dance, and..." He turns and looks behind him. "Wow, this pet shop is a mess. And we actually _live_ in this dump?"

"Yeah, you're right, you're starting to get Russell's sense of organization," Sunil confirmed.

"So what, I'm supposed to have magical abilities now?" Russell asked before smiling. "Aw, man, that's so incredible! Hold on, when did you say the spell was gonna wear off?"

"Actually..." Sunil whimpered. "It was supposed to have worn off about now, but... I still don't fee different from now..."

"Yeah, nor do I. I still feel like a pet version of Albert Einstein," Vinnie replied.

"Now Vinnie knows how to say his full name, and you still don't feel different, which means I'm still the same, and if the spell didn't wear off, that means it'll never wear off, which means we're stuck here forever! _We're doomed!"_ Russell wailed before rolling into a ball.

"Russell, you need to calm down," Vinnie grunted, massaging the bridge of his nose, as if he had a headache. "We'll figure something out. Okay, I have a plan."

"I hope it's a good one, 'cuz I don't really like having your... uh... things," Sunil huffed in irritation.

"Okay, I think that the best way for the spell to be broken is, well, a counter spell, in which only Russell can do now because he has Sunil's magical abilities."

"I can't use magic; I don't know the first thing about it, not to mention I don't even know how to _read_ that dumb spell book!" Russell raised his voice into a whine once he rolled halfway.

"That's why the plan is the three of us get more familiar to our new personas. Sunil practices his dancing, Russell practices his magic, and I practice my organization. We'll feel better adapted to this, and once Russell learns how to read the spell book, he'll study and cast the counter spell, turning us back to normal."

"Whoa, man, you came up with that in, like, seconds!" Sunil gasped in awe before squishing Vinnie's face, who smiled shyly. "You are good!"

"Hold on!" Russell yelled, walking towards the two boys as he rambles on nervously. "We are supposed to get used to our new personas and talents, ignore the thought that this spell may or may not be permanent, expect _me_ to learn how to read Sunil's spell book and memorize the spell before a period of time in which, if the spell isn't permanent, it will be locked down on us forever, and cast the counter spell on all three of us?!" When he finished, he was in the boys' faces, and Sunil fell on his back.

"Piece of cake," Vinnie replied confidently before running off to begin his task, Sunil soon following.

"Actually..." the hedgehog gulped, hesitating before following. "I prefer pie..."

* * *

**A/N: This is a brand new story I'm working on. Don't worry, it's a three-shot, and I've already completed the second and third chapters, so they should be out as soon as this story goes viral. ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

"Thank you so much for taking us once again up to your bedroom for our weekly get-together, Blythe," Zoe the dog barked as she and the other girls, Pepper the skunk, Minka the monkey, Penny Ling the panda, and Blythe the teenaged girl, hopped out of the dumbwaiter on the wall.

"NP, girls," Blythe replied. "I sure am glad that last dumbwaiter incident fixed it so overloading it won't be a problem anymore."

"I wonder how the boys are doing," Penny Ling commented.

"Only one way to fiiiii-" Blythe trailed off as she looked at the daycare center, which was a complete mess. "What the _what?_ What happened here?"

"Where's Russell? Why isn't he dealing with this?" Zoe asked as she trotted out into the open. She looked and gaped her jaws wide open when she saw Vinnie reading a book. "How did things suddenly come down to complete corruption?"

"Vinnie? Why are you reading Russell's book on scientific method?" Blythe asked as she and the rest of the girls walked over, surprise and confusion in her voice.

"Oh. Uh... yeah, the thing is..." Vinnie began when he looked up from the book, smiling shyly. Before he could finish, however, a crash was heard. Everyone turned and saw Sunil had knocked over a crate full of balls. The gecko groaned and ran over, abandoning his book, and began putting the balls back in the crate. "Please, Sunil, at least try to learn a dance that doesn't cause a huge mess for me to clean up."

"Oops, sorry, Vin, my bad," the mongoose chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Is it always difficult for you to dance?"

"It's difficult for me to clean up after your dancing, I'll give you that."

"Okay, I'm confused," Minka muttered, scratching her head.

"So am I..." Penny Ling agreed softly, eyes sparkling in concern.

"Could I ask what's going on?" Blythe asked.

"Sorry for ignoring you, girls," Vinnie apologized. "Sunil decided to cast a personality and characteristic spell on the three of us, and now I have Russell's intelligence, Russell has Sunil's cowardliness, and Sunil has my stupidity."

"For the last time, I'm not stupid, just dumb!" Sunil snapped.

"Wait! Russell has Sunil's traits?" Pepper barked in hysteria. "Man, I've been waiting for so long to scare that hedgehog!"

"This isn't the time, Pepper," Zoe scolded.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun! Just this once." Without waiting for anyone else to object against her decision, she quietly ran over to Russell, who was busy reading Sunil's spell book.

"I don't think I'll ever get this; this is just too much for me to take in," Russell sighed in defeat, looking down. "We're never gonna turn back to normal now, and it's all gonna be because of me..."

_"Hey, Rusty!"_ Pepper suddenly shouted right behind him, making the hedgehog scream and zoom off, and collapsed on the ground laughing.

"Pepper, that wasn't nice!" Vinnie shouted.

"Oh, whatever, it was funny! Did you hear how high-pitched that scream was? You _never_ hear that from Russell; that chance was just too good to pass up!"

"I _hate_ being like this, I just wanna turn back to normal!" Russell wailed as he shivered behind Sunil.

"Yeah, I do, too," the mongoose agreed. "Vinnie, your plan isn't working very well."

"You're right, it isn't..." Vinnie sighed. He shook his head and regained his confident look. "But we can't give up, not now. We still have to keep trying."

"This is all for a lost cause..." Russell whimpered quietly.

Blythe sighed in sympathy, then turned back to the girls, just as Pepper began to walk back to them, still snickering. "We have to help them."

"As much as we'd love to, Blythe, how could we?" Zoe asked, tilting her head. "We don't seem to be any help."

"Well, I get the feeling that their plan is to adapt to their new personalities and talents, so we have to help them out as much as we can by treating them as if they were the originals. No, Pepper, that doesn't mean you can go on a scaring spree with Russell."

"Shoot," the skunk growled.

"Even address them to their talents' representatives; we'll see how that works, and we'll see if it helps them. If it does, and if this plan works, they'll be able to change back to normal."

"That's a good idea, but will it work?" Minka squeaked.

"I hope so. Come on, let's try."

The girls then began to fan out towards the guys, whispering to each other how they would play things out.

Penny Ling trotted over to Sunil, who was busy either doing a foxtrot, or he had just stubbed his toe. "Hey... Vinnie." She blinked when the mongoose didn't stop. "Vinnie? ...Sunil."

"Huh?" Sunil stopped and looked at the panda. She sighed again. "Sorry, it's just Blythe had suggested that we helped you three guys out, even addressing you by the name of the pet that your new talent belongs to."

"Well, that's weird. How's that supposed to help?" he asked, making Penny Ling gasp in dread. "Wh-What? What's wrong?"

"You... You... You..." she whimpered. Finally she screamed, _"You lost your Indian accent!"_

_"What?!"_ Sunil exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at him in surprise and nervousness. "My Indian accent! It's _gone!"_

"Wait, if Sunil lost his accent, and since Russell has Sunil's abilities and traits..." Pepper started, looking at the hedgehog.

"That doesn't mean I now have an Indian accent, right?" Russell asked nervously, then let out a cry. "Oh, no! I _do_ have an Indian accent!"

"Th-That's not supposed to happen!" Vinnie exclaimed. "It's a talent swapper, not a heritage swapper! We're sinking deeper and deeper into our new personalities, and it's only strengthening the spell; if this keeps up, we'll be like this..."

_"Forever!"_ all three boys cried.

* * *

**A/N: Uh-oh! How are the boys gonna get out of this? Oh, yeah, this is the only chapter the girls come on. Sorry, ladies.**


	3. Chapter 3

"How are we supposed to turn back now?" Sunil asked sadly, sitting on the ground next to Russell, who was rolled into a ball and whimpered constantly. He watched as Vinnie paced back and forth, trying to think of a plan.

"Russell, did you learn the spell yet?" Vinnie suddenly asked.

"No, because I can't understand it," the hedgehog muffled as he stayed in a tight ball.

"What do we do, Vinnie? Please tell me you have a Plan X or Y or whatever it is you have," Sunil asked helplessly.

"Firstly, it'd be Plan B, and secondly..." The gecko stopped pacing and stood still, eyes narrowed in deep thought. Finally, his face brightened into a smile and he turned to his other friends. "Okay, I got it! Practicing our new talents only strengthened the spell, right?"

"Right..." Russell and Sunil nodded slowly, curious about where their friend was going.

"Well, maybe we can weaken the spell if we practice our original talents. Forget about me trying to learn organization. Now I have to reteach myself how to dance, and Sunil with magic, and Russell with organization. We also have to focus on small details as well, such as how we talk, act, walk, even breathe. Anything we can do to turn back into our original selves we must do. And I think, no, I _know_ that this plan will work! Now, I know I've been wrong before. This may be one of those times, but maybe, just maybe-!"

"If you want us to turn back to normal, try shutting up," Russell interrupted blandly.

"Oh, right, sorry. Come on, let's see what we can do." The three boys fanned out to do what they did best. Or rather, what they used to do best. Vinnie kept losing his balance - well, more than usual, - Russell became stressed out by the daycare center's mess, and Sunil couldn't read and understand his spell book.

"This isn't working either!" Sunil shouted in anger and desperation.

"Keep trying!" Vinnie encouraged.

"There's no point in trying to continue, we're doomed anyway; even if we do manage to pull this off it'd be too late once we actually do it!"

"No, really, you're starting to panic."

_"Everybody's_ panicked, Vinnie! We're not gonna do it! We'd might as well give up while we still have the chance!"

"Go, Russell!" Vinnie suddenly hissed at Russell, who was busy trying to clean up some toys.

"Go what?"

"Encourage him like how original you does it."

"I can't do that; I don't know what to say!"

"Just try! For the sake of our talents!"

Gulping down a lump in his throat, Russell stood up and walked towards Sunil. "Um... d-don't give up?"

"You have to actually mean it. You want this to go away, right? And you want Sunil to have confidence in himself, right?"

"Of course I do..." The hedgehog heaved a sigh. "Just... don't give up, Sunil. I...I know things are looking really... bleak right now, but that doesn't mean we have to accept failure. We have no time for it, in fact. We just have to keep trying to do what we originally do best, and if Vinnie's plan actually works, we'll be back to ourselves in no time. But to do that we need everyone to play their own part in this. It's too early to give up, and if we do, we'll never change anything. We have to make a difference. We have to save ourselves and our personalities. We have to break the spell!"

"Russell!" Vinnie suddenly exclaimed with a large smile. "You've lost your Indian accent!"

"I did? I did! And... I feel like I'm bursting with confidence. Vinnie, your plan must be working!"

"Of course it's working, it's my idea," the gecko nodded smugly. He blinked in surprise and began to chuckle in awe. "Oh, man, I'm starting to go back, too!"

"And what about me? I don't feel any different! It's working on you two, but it's not on me!" Sunil fretted, then blinked and lifted up his tail in realization. "Oh, never mind. It's working for me, too!"

"Now all we have to do is practice our talents a little more, and the spell will be ultimately broken without a counter spell!" Russell announced proudly.

"All right!" Vinnie cheered, dancing around in a mix of a foxtrot, disco, mambo, and moonwalk, tripping over his tail as he did so. "Ow."

"You have your dancing back!" Sunil exclaimed ecstatically.

"Yes!" The gecko fist pumped the air before getting back up.

"Sunil, can you use your magic?" Russell asked.

"Um..." The mongoose picked up his spell book and nervously began to read it, and his eyes widened. "I-I can read my own spell book again!"

"This is wicked awesome! We're turning back to normal like flippin' wildfire!" Vinnie exclaimed, holding out his arms to emphasize his excitement.

"Do you think things are back to normal now?" Sunil asked, ears twitching nervously.

"I'd say so. You have your magical abilities back and Vinnie has his dancing talents back," Russell reported.

"And your organization skills?"

"I'm... pretty sure if I have my intelligence back I'll also have my original talent."

"I was _plenty_ intelligent!" Vinnie growled.

"Yeah, while the spell was still active," Russell joked. Sunil began to snicker.

"Yeah, he's back."

With a relieved sigh, Sunil sat on the ground and laid on his back, paws under his head. "It's so good to be back."

"I'll never take my traits for granted ever again," Russell added with a smile.

"All in favor of never doing _that_ again, say I," Vinnie said.

_"I."_

The boys stayed silent for a while, and finally Sunil spoke up. "Oh, hey, that reminds me, I found a new spell to work on."

"What is it?" Vinnie asked curiously.

"It's called... Body Swap!"

Russell and Vinnie blinked, looked at each other, and facepalmed.

* * *

**A/N: Told you this was gonna be a quick story. Well, I'm done for now. Not sure when I'm gonna update ****_Who Needs Those Girls?_****, but hopefully it's soon. ;)**


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